Bretons

The Bretons are a Celtic ethnic group who inhabit the Brittany region of France. The Bretons are descended from the similarly-named Britons; after the Western Roman Empire evacuated Roman Britain during the late 4th century AD, Emperor Magnus Maximus settled his Briton auxiliaries in the province of Armorica. A second wave of Britons arrived during the 5th century AD to escape the invading Anglo-Saxons and Picts. Brittany was originally divided into three kingdoms, but they were united under the Duchy of Brittany in 939 AD. Not long after the Norman Conquest, the Breton Alan FitzFlaad, the Steward of the Bishopric of Dol, emigrated to Scotland, and his profession became the name of his dynasty, the House of Stuart (which would come to be the royal family of the British Isles during the 17th century). In 1547, the Duchy of Brittany entered into a union with the Kingdom of France, and Bretons were among the first settlers of France's Caribbean colonies, including Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. In addition, the Bretons also migrated to other parts of France, forming sizable communities in Paris and Le Havre.